Chelsea Fine - Awry

Just to see her.

After the wedding, he would have to go into hiding; he surely could not stay in a town where he was thought to be dead and live peacefully. His father would have his head and the guards would never allow him back into the castle.

But weddings were public occasions and Tristan knew he could sneak inside the main hall and see Scarlet’s sweet face one last time.

Church bells rang in the distance, signaling the end of the morning and Tristan began to run.

The sun was setting on the small, quiet downtown of Avalon, Georgia and everything looked perfectly normal.

Everything except for the five teenagers walking into the Avalon cemetery, Scarlet still armed with a bloody butcher knife.

Scarlet knew it looked weird, but she didn’t care. Something was there….something was in the cemetery.

“You know,” Heather started. “This whole scenario sorta reeks of danger. I mean, a graveyard? Really?”

Scarlet took a deep breath and headed toward the cemetery gates that stood ajar. Like they were inviting them in.

Scarlet accepted the invitation and stepped into the green grassy hills of death.

Avalon Cemetery was vast and beautiful. It was slightly hilly, dotted with tombstones, and well-groomed. Birds chirped in the trees that spread their branches out over the departed and colorful flowers laid here and there at various headstones.

Peaceful.

Scarlet carefully walked along the clean sidewalk of the grounds, up the small hills, and along the grass.

Nate looked around as he walked along. “What are we looking for exactly?”

Scarlet’s eyes canvassed the area, hoping a memory would flash. “I don’t know.”

“Ah.” Nate nodded.

Heather turned to Nate with a smile. “It’s like we’re on a memory scavenger hunt. Scarlet gets a clue, grabs a dirty knife, and we follow her to a place filled with dead bodies, hoping to find the next clue.” She looked around at the standing tombs under the fading sunlight. “If it wasn’t so weird, it might actually be fun.”

“It’s not here,” Scarlet said, convinced she was looking at the wrong thing. “This isn’t the right place.”

Gabriel looked at her. “You said the Avalon cemetery.”

Scarlet slowly nodded, still looking around. “But this isn’t what I saw in my mind.”

“What did you see?” Tristan asked.

Scarlet thought for a moment. “I saw…crypts…and broken headstones.” She blinked. “I saw willow trees and overgrown weeds….”

Heather turned her head to Scarlet. “You saw the old cemetery.”

Everyone looked at her.

“You saw the original Avalon cemetery,” Heater explained, nodding her head.

“Maybe,” Scarlet said. “Where’s the original cemetery?”

“It’s in the back,” Heather pointed to the far end of the graveyard. “The way back. Nobody goes there anymore. I think they have it closed off.”

Scarlet headed toward the back. “Then, that’s where we need to go.”

“Of course, it is,” Heather muttered, smoothing her hands down her pink dress.

Everyone followed Scarlet down the sidewalk, over the hills, and to the back of the cemetery, where an old wall stood covered in moss and cobwebs. A small gate stood at the entrance, vines crawling up and down iron bars as it stood propped open to reveal a walled-in acre of broken tombstones, ancient crypts and withered grass. The sad branches of tall willow trees hung into the space, throwing everything into shadows as if it were always nighttime among the graves.

It was like the Secret Garden.

Of dead people.

Scarlet stood outside the open gate with her friends, unsure of what to do next.

Heather shifted. “I’m getting bad vibes about this.”

“Bad vibes about an ancient cemetery?” Nate quipped. “Imagine that.”

“Is this what you saw in your memory?” Tristan asked, stepping forward and eyeing the rundown expanse.

Scarlet nodded. “Exactly.”

Gabriel exhaled. “Then, let’s do this.” He moved forward and walked through the small gate, everyone following behind him.

Once inside, Scarlet was lost. She didn’t know what she was looking for or why she had thought to come there. Her eyes swept along the ancient ground until they caught on something.

In the back, under the darkest of shadows, were mounds of upturned dirt and rows of dug-up graves.

Uh-oh.

Scarlet started walking toward the dirt and everyone followed her.

“Are those…?” Nate swallowed. “Are those dug up graves?”

Nearing the place of shadows, Scarlet nodded. The graveyard was pillaged. Coffins were overturned and empty, and holes where bodies used to rest littered the dying grass.

Lots of holes.

Dozens of holes.

“O…M…G….” Heather gripped Scarlet’s arm as they stared ahead.

“Snowdonia Hawkweed!” Nate announced, pointing a finger into the air.

Everyone turned to stare at him.

Gabriel blinked. “You can’t just say random words, Nate. We’re not on the same nerd level as you.”

Nate exhaled loudly. “The proper name for the Liferoot flower Laura has is Snowdonia Hawkweed. And I just remembered what it was used for.” He looked around at the many holes. “Resurrection spells.”

“Resurrection?” Gabriel said. “Raven’s bringing corpses back from the dead?”

“Ew,” said Heather.

“Yes.” Nate nodded. “Liferoot is supposed to raise the dead, but it doesn’t work. Once a soul is gone, it’s gone. Liferoot can only reanimate bodies, not bring back their spirits.”

“You mean like zombies?” Heather’s face looked horrified. “All these corpses are now zombies?” She made a squeaky sound.

“Uh…probably.” Nate looked around.

Tristan cursed as he looked at Gabriel. “I knew it. I knew we should have tracked down Raven’s body back when you ‘thought’ she was dead and burned her alive or something.”

Scarlet swallowed as she lost count of the many empty graves. “What does this mean?”

Nate responded, “It means there are dozens of Ashmen running around Avalon, completely controlled by Raven.”

Scarlet shook her head.

No.

She did not sign up for zombies. She signed up for immortal twins and eternal water. Not witches and zombies and creepy-ass graveyards in the middle of the afternoon—

“Heather!” Gabriel’s voice cut into the air as hands whipped out from behind a crypt and grabbed Heather.

Heather squealed as an Ashman held her in his arms, gripping her so tight Scarlet could tell it was hard for Heather to breathe.

Tristan and Gabriel charged at the Ashman, Tristan reaching for something inside his coat.

Without thinking, Scarlet raised the knife she’d brought from the shack and flung the weapon at the Ashman.

It whipped through the sky, slicing the air as it cart-wheeled toward the soulless creature, and struck the Ashman in the center of his forehead with a gruesome thwack!

The Ashman looked stunned for a moment, before releasing Heather and falling to the ground.

Tristan and Gabriel stopped moving and turned to look at Scarlet.

Heather whimpered as she stepped away from the Ashman’s stiff body, and looked back at Scarlet, her mouth hanging open.

“Did you just….?” Heather looked from Scarlet to the dead Ashman with the knife in his head, and back to Scarlet.

Sliding his eyes to back to the Ashman, Tristan said nothing, but Scarlet felt relief rush out of his pores.

Suddenly, the Ashman’s body began to crumble, cracks splitting down the ashy skin covering his tightened limbs. The cracks grew until the crumbles broke off and fell apart, leaving nothing but ash on the cemetery earth.